Amy Acker
'Amy Louise Acker '(born December 5, 1976) is an American actress best known for her roles on TV series Angel as Winifred Burkle and Illyria. She is also known for her role on Alias ''as Kelly Peyton, Dr. Claire Saunders on ''Dollhouse ''and Samantha "Root" Groves on ''Person of Interest. '' Early life Acker was born in Dallas, Texas to a homemaker mother and a lawyer father. She graduated from Lake Highlands High School in Dallas. She also earned a bachelor's degree in theater from Southern Methodist University. In her junior year of college, Acker modeled for J. Crew's catalog. She also received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1999. She worked as a stage actress for several seasons, including a stint at American Players Theater in Spring Green, Wisconsin. Career Acker made her major TV debut on ''Angel ''starring as Winifred Burkle from the 2nd to the 5th season, as well as portraying Illyria for the 5th and final season. She joined the cast of Alias in 2005 for the final season as villian, Kelly Peyton alongside Kevin Weisman (Dreg). In the same year, Acker provided her voice for the character, Huntress on animated series, ''Justice League Unlimited. Acker guest-starred on fellow Buffyverse actress, Alyson Hannigan's show, How I Met Your Mother. ''She was re-united with fellow ''Angel ''co-star, Alexis Denisof, who had a recurring part on the show. She portrayed Dr. Claire Saunders/Whiskey, a recurring character, on Joss Whedon's show ''Dollhouse. ''She guest starred in 10 of the 13 episodes of the first season as well as 3 of the second season. In 2010, Acker became a series regular on ABC's drama, ''Happy Town ''portraying Rachel Conroy. She also starred in the season one finale of ''Human Target ''as well as CBS's ''Person of Interest. '' Acker appeared in horror movie, ''Cabin in the Woods ''in 2012. She also had other roles in sci-fi/fantasy shows such as ''Grimm, Warehouse 13, Supernatural ''and ''Once Upon a Time. ''She will also appear as Beatrice in Joss Whedon's, ''Much Ado About Nothing. Episodes'' '' * "Belonging" * "Over the Rainbow" * "Through the Looking Glass" * "There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb" * Angel Season 3 * Angel Season 4 * Angel Season 5 Personal life Acker married actor James Carpinello on April 25, 2003 in California. She gave birth to son, Jackson James in 2005 and daughter, Ava Grace in 2006. Trivia *She studied ballet, jazz and modern dancing for 13 years before moving onto acting. She underwent knee surgery which ended her ballet career so began to study acting. *While on Angel ''she shared a trailer with co-star, J. August Richards. *Wore her own glasses when playing Winifred Burkle on ''Angel. '' *Close friend of Neil Patrick Harris. Quotes * "This is our first time meeting each other. She's pretty cool so I'm hoping Joss will maybe make me a witch or something too." — On meeting actress Alyson Hannigan when her character Willow Rosenberg crossed over to ''Angel. *"I want to be strong and a vampire slayer." *"Looking back at my character, I've gotten to do about 12 different parts because I started out crazy in a potato sack in a demon dimension. Now I'm in charge of this multimillion dollar science lab. The journey between those points has really bought a lot of strength to the role." — On her character Fred on Angel. External links * *Instagram official account *Twitter official account *Wikipedia entry Category:Angel (series) Actors Category:Guest Stars Category:Series Regulars